Endorsements by Male Skaters

(Inspired by a post on another thread)

There seems to be a great disparity between male and female skaters (at least American skaters) in getting endorsements. Kimmie just got some good ones (Subway; Visa; Under Armour), and I doubt if she has become a household name yet. For the men, however, there might be a few around Olys, but that is it. Why do you think this is so?

because in the US especially it's deemed a ladies sport... and so the media at large believe that because it's a women's sport more women are watching and so they're they target audience

apparently these women that watch are not seen as being attracted to the many attractive male skaters. Give me Evan Lysacek over Kimmie Meissner anyday.

but as I'm typing this they're showing Ben and Tanith's commercial for contacts... so I guess some male skaters get lucky

Also women are not AS concerned about attractive men as men are about attractive women. I have seen many % study scales of where men are attracted first to women by looks at over a 50% margin. Where women are in the attraction to men for looks as being in the 20% margin. It is because we as men have XY and women have XX, some stating this means men have lest character importance. I don't know how to feel about those studies. ???

If the US had a dominant male skater, there is a good chance the endorsments would come. Assume for a second that the likes of Plushenko or Yagudin were American...very marketable skaters IMO, and I think they appeal to both the sexes.

Blame it on Sonia Henie, her movies, her coloring book, her paper dolls, and all those new mothers at that time naming their daughters Sonja. Dick Button came 8 years later too late, and there was already much ballyhoo over Joe Dimaggio. Finally, figure skating could be called a little girl sport.

Todd Eldredge was the king of U.S. figure skating for many years. Does anyone remember if he got any endorsements?

A lot of skaters appear in ads for skating equipment in figure skating magazines at least.

I think around the time of the 1998 Olympics Todd may have had some kind of endorsement with Minute Maid Orange Juice. In 2002 he did a series of skating clinics with Chevy across the USA (we were lucky enough to participate in one about 15 minutes from home).